Happy Anniversary
by CharlieSwagron
Summary: This is a sequel of sorts to my one-shot "Happy Birthday." You can choose to read that as well, but this also works as a stand alone story. Kate just gave birth and the family and friends gather in the hospital to see her and Castle's new baby.


**A/N: A few people asked for me to continue the last story I wrote titled, "Happy Birthday" so I obliged. This is technically a sequel to it, but it does work as a stand alone one-shot as well.**

Kate woke up to the sound of her husband's voice and glanced around, taking in the unfamiliar setting. In an instant, all the memories of the past eighteen hours came rushing back to her: her water breaking, going into labor, and—finally—delivering their baby.

She grimaced as she remembered how much pain she'd been in; how the contractions had squeezed her insides to point where she was sweating from every pore and crying tears of pure agony. After far too many hours of labor, those tears of agony had turned into tears of bliss as her new baby boy was laid on her chest.

Smiling, Kate tiredly turned her head to the side to study Castle's form as he stood a few feet away, their little bundle of joy held securely in his arms. He was currently whispering to their son about anything and everything, unable to keep his eyes off of him for more than a second.

"You're mama did amazing when she gave birth to you," he said softly. "She was so strong and brave and beautiful and one day, I hope you appreciate the pain she went through in order to get you here."

When Kate chuckled, Castle turned to her, a grin descending upon his face. "I was wondering when you would wake up. It seemed like you were gonna sleep forever."

She rolled her eyes at his exaggerations. "Yeah, well, _you_ try pushing out a seven pound little human the size of a watermelon from between your legs and then we'll talk about how much you're allowed to sleep after."

Castle sat down in the chair next to the hospital bed as his wife reached out a hand to gently caress their baby's cheek. The second he felt his mother's touch on him, he squirmed to get closer.

"It's as if he knows it's me," Kate said in wonder.

Castle carefully handed him to her. "I wouldn't be surprised if he did; babies know those kinds of things." They watched in wonder as their son immediately ceased movement and fell right back to sleep as soon as he was tucked safely in his mother's arms.

"And it looks like this one's gonna be a mama's boy when he's older," the writer added with a chuckle.

"That was a given, Castle. He's already got _me_ wrapped around his little finger," she retorted.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you," he began. "Our family and friends have been texting me non-stop since we came to the hospital. They're all eagerly awaiting their chance to come see us."

"And by 'us' you mean _him_," Kate replied, gesturing down to their son.

"Of course, but anyway, they wanna know when they can come visit. Should I call them and let them know that they can come by now or do you wanna wait? You did just wake up."

Kate smiled at her husband's thoughtfulness. "No, you can tell them to come by now. Having them wait this long is torture enough for them."

"God, Esposito's been blowing up my phone every half hour, telling me to text him with updates about how you and the baby are doing."

"Well go call them all then," she urged. "No use in making them wait any longer."

Roughly thirty minutes later, Martha, Alexis, Jim, Esposito, Ryan, Jenny, and Lanie were all gathered in the hospital room, all of them nearly bursting with excitement.

Kate handed their son over to Castle so that everyone wouldn't have to crowd around her and the bed just to see him.

"Everyone, we'd like you to meet the latest and greatest addition to the Castle family: our son, Evan James Castle." He passed the baby off to his older sister, allowing Alexis to be the first one to meet him.

"Congratulations, girl!" Lanie squealed excitedly, walking over to Kate and wrapping her up in a giant hug. "My little nephew is just the cutest thing ever!"

"Hey, I thought _I_ was the cutest thing ever," Espo chimed in as he moved through the small crowd to stand beside the two women.

"No, Javi, _parts_ of you are cute, not the entire thing," the ME replied.

Before he could respond, Kate said, "So I hear that you were a little worried about me and my son, Espo. Castle said that you kept texting him and wouldn't stop."

"A little worried?" Lanie scoffed. "Girl, please, he was practically attached to that phone of his ever since we heard the news."

The detective looked down in embarrassment. "I just—you know. I had to make sure that you were okay. I had a cousin that gave birth and there a lot of complications and I just wanted to make sure that you and the baby were alright."

"You're gonna be the biggest protective uncle aren't you?" Kate asked him.

"You're just lucky that Evan isn't a girl," Jenny chimed in from across the room. "If you would've had a girl, her two Uncles Javi and Kevin would be hovering over her like a hawk. You and Rick wouldn't have had to worry about anything!"

"Just wait until Sarah Grace gets older, guys," Castle said. "You two are gonna have fun beating off the boys with a stick. I had to do that for Alexis all by myself, didn't I, sweetie?"

"Don't remind me," the redhead told him dryly, handing her little brother over to his grandmother who was too busy cooing over him to join the conversation.

When Lanie and Esposito left her to fawn over their new nephew, Jenny came over to keep her company.

"So, was labor everything you thought it would be?" the blonde asked, a teasing tone in voice.

Kate groaned and threw her head back. "It was worse, much, much worse."

"I know exactly what you mean, Kate. Thank God mine only lasted a couple hours. I can't imagine what it must've been like for _ten_."

"It was hell," the detective replied before looking at her son currently being held by her best friend. "But it was so well worth it."

"Sometimes, the hardest and most painful things in life are the ones most worth doing," Jenny said wisely.

Kate looked at her curiously. "You know, Castle once told me that. It's creepy because you almost quoted him word for word."

Jenny shrugged. "Well, we're right, aren't we? And Rick's a great man."

Looking lovingly at her husband, she said, "I know. He told me not to tell anyone this, but he fainted in the delivery room."

She heard Jenny gasp and saw her cover her mouth in astonishment. "He didn't."

"He did. Fell flat on the floor after being the idiot to look underneath the sheet."

Castle turned towards them when he heard the two women laughing and staring at him. Suddenly, he realized what they were laughing about.

"Kate, you said you wouldn't tell anybody that I fainted!" he exclaimed, temporarily forgetting that there were other people in the room.

"Bro, you _fainted_?" Esposito asked incredulously.

"That's weak, man," Ryan added.

"It's not my fault that a baby coming out of person is a horrible and terrible sight!"

"Yeah, but it _is_ your fault that you looked," the Latino detective replied.

"At least I was man enough to chance a look."

"And then you were man enough to faint?" Ryan teased.

Castle whirled around and pointed a finger in mock hurt at his wife. "This is all _your_ fault."

"I told you not to look, Castle, but you're the one who didn't listen. You could barely keep it together when we were looking at the baby books so why did you think you could handle the reality?" Kate raised her eyebrow at him as he conceded his defeat.

Hanging his head, the writer said, "Can we just, _not_ let this leave this room?"

Espo and Ryan glanced at each other and said, "We'll think about it."

At his embarrassed expression, Lanie handed Evan over to him. "Here, Castle, maybe he'll be able to cheer you up."

The moment his son was placed in his hands, the proud father's humiliation disappeared, replaced with the radiant love one could only feel for their child.

The attention turned from father to son in a heartbeat as the others crowded around him again. Jim, however, decided to join his daughter at her bedside.

"Hey, dad," Kate greeted with a smile.

"I'm so proud of you, Katie," the older man told her, a couple tears visible in his eyes. "Your mother would be so proud too."

She swallowed down a lump that had formed in her throat, wishing more than anything that her mother could be here to meet her grandson.

"She would be so proud and happy that you finally found someone that you could spend the rest of eternity with; that you just brought new life into this world." Her father clutched her hand tightly in his, a watery grin on his face.

"I know, dad," she said quietly. Making eye contact with her husband, they had a brief silent conversation.

"Hey, Jim," Castle called from the other side of the room. "Why don't you come here and hold your grandson."

Kate smiled at him. "Go, dad. Go meet the grandson that I know you'll be spoiling in the future."

Jim laughed. "You got that right, Katie." He stood from his seat and leaned over, brushing a kiss over his daughter's forehead.

As soon as Castle handed Evan over to his elated grandfather, he made his way over to his wife. With only a slight bit of pain shooting through her, Kate scooted over so that he could sit down on the bed next to her, stretching his legs out to run parallel with hers. One of his arms wrapped around her shoulders as she rested her head against one of his.

"That baby is gonna be the most spoiled child in the history of this world," she commented.

"What with us as parents, and our friends to act as uncles and aunts along with his grandparents and sister? That poor kid never stood a chance," he joked.

"When I told you I was pregnant on my birthday, I never would've thought that becoming a mother would feel as amazing as this," she said. "Thank you, Castle."

"For what?"

"For giving me this," she waved her hand at the people in the room. "For giving me a family."

"Always," he whispered as he planted a kiss on top of her head. "Happy Anniversary, Kate."

"Our anniversary was last week, Castle," she deadpanned.

He shrugged, holding her tighter as she wrapped an arm around his stomach. "Close enough."

**A/N: I hope I satisfied those who wished for me to write a sequel as well as those of you who chose to read this by itself. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it.**


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